Ultimate Manhunt
by BlackBeauty613
Summary: What else are you supposed to do when you're grounded and sneaking out with your friends? The answer in two words? Ultimate Manhunt. Troyella three-shot, rated T for language.
1. The Plan

**I know it's not Haunting Memories (trying, I promise...) but I think this can count as a temporary placeholder. It's funny, it's decent, and it's part one of a quick three-shot. More Chad stupidity, Troyella love, and gang recklessness haha my favorite FF genre...**

**Chapter 1 – The Plan**

"This makes no sense to me."

"Wow. Shocker…"

"I'm serious. You, of all people, grounded for two whole weeks."

Gabriella sighed on the line and Chad could almost hear her roll her eyes. "I'm not a nun, Chad; I get in trouble, too."

Chad shook off the shock from hearing about the saint's recent incarceration alongside his own. He twirled a wild curl around his finger and replied "Well it's news to me."

"Not to me," a third voice crooned from the third line. "Gabby gave up her adorable nun image the day she met me, isn't that right, sweetie?"

Now it was Chad's turn to look to the ceiling in annoyance. He let the strand go. "Way to be overly cocky, Troy."

"Babe, stop making me sound like a whore. We haven't even slept together yet."

Chad grimaced. "Thanks for that, really, because I was obviously curious and about to ask you freaks."

"Butt out, Chad."

"Why? You two called _me_, remember?"

"You're not a whore, honey, nowhere near it."

"Thank you."

"So…"

"So…"

"So…"

"What color panties you got on?"

"Troy!"

"Dude!"

"What? Can't a man ask a harmless question to his girlfriend of six months?"

"Not while your best friend's on the line listening, you jackass!"

"No one said you had to stay in this three-way, Danforth."

"You purposely made that perverted! God is watching!"

"Than why isn't he watching over your grades, or are you forgetting that you're grounded, too?"

"Nonbeliever!"

"Failure!"

"CHILDREN!"

Chad sat up in his bed and bit his tongue to keep from retaliating to Troy's insult about his dropping grades. But how could _he _talk? Troy was grounded for missing his curfew by two and a half hours because he was out with Gabriella, who never showed up to babysit her little cousin. So now she was grounded _and_ broke. What a wonderful summer birthday present.

Chad sighed and flopped back on his huge throw pillow. "Sorry, Gabs, but you know how I get when I can't see Taylor or any of the gang outside of school."

He could almost hear Troy nod. "Yeah, we're taking risks by finding our phones. My ass is on the line just by being out of my room."

"Me, too," Gabriella nearly whispered, "if my mom's boss calls, I'm screwed. I couldn't find my cell, so I'm stuck with the land line."

"Didn't you say that she was leaving in a few minutes, anyway?"

"Yes, Troy, she's going to a promo dinner. She wanted to bring me, but—oh, crap, hold on!"

Troy and Chad waited in sharp suspense as they heard Gabriella shove the phone under her pillow and throw her head on top of it. Maria Montez wasn't one to condone or overlook her daughter's occasional tricks, especially when she was in trouble. The boys heard the low thumping of Maria's heels on Gabby's carpet and her muffled voice apologizing for "waking her up". She must have been in a rush to not remember that she was the only one to take a shower that night or that Gabby's clothes weren't in her laundry basket. Instead, she just informed her on where she was going again and when she would be back: 10:00. They could've sworn they heard her ask Gabriella to look for the house phone as well…

The door closed. A few seconds crawled by before Gabriella retrieved the phone. "Sorry, guys, she just left. I'm in the clear until ten."

Chad nodded. "Me, too. It's my grandma's birthday and my parents left about an hour ago."

"What?" Troy confusingly added in, "You're not going with them? Isn't that a little messed up?"

Chad rolled his eyes and explained the story. "My Grammy might as well have a restraining order on me for what happened last time. I won't go into full detail, but can you guys just promise me something?"

"Sure?"

"Okay?"

He frowned sullenly before replying. "Never, never, _ever_, carry Mentos and root beer in the same pocket as your grandma's birthday card. Especially when it's holding the $2,000 check that's paying her back for helping you out with the new basement."

"Wow, you would, Chad," Gabriella made a _tsk_ sound over the phone while Troy was nearly bent over in hysterics.

Chad glared at his best friend without having the patience to remember that he couldn't see him. "Shut up, Bolton, I hope you get caught and grounded for an extra year."

After a second of re-composition, Troy sighed and wiped the dampness from his eyes. "Oh, no, never. My parents just left for dinner. It's date night, remember?"

Chad just sat there blinking at the wall covered with posters of his favorite basketball players and bands. Kobe stood with the ball in his hand and seemed to be shaking his head at the three of them, like he was saying _"And you call yourselves smart?"_

"Troy?"

"Huh?"

"What the hell are we doing sitting here on our asses like Sharpay after she's finished shopping?"

"Don't think I won't tell her that you said that."

"Oh, please, Gabs. Like I'm scared of that stick."

"Okay, you're funeral."

"What do you suppose we do, then, sneak out?" Troy quarried, getting up from his basement couch and strolling over to the window, checking the driveway to make sure that his father's Honda was absent. He smiled when he saw it turn around the corner.

Chad scoffed. "Why do you say that like it's a question? Aren't you two supposed to be the smart ones?"

"Is that your way of calling me stupid?"

"Depends on if you do it or not."

"Are you insane?" Gabriella screeched, sitting up in her bed with a start, "I hope to God you set aside some cash for our caskets after our parents slit our throats."

Chad sucked his teeth and played a solitude game of catch with his basketball pillow. "Come on, Gabby, give me one good reason why this isn't a good idea."

"Do you even hear yourself?"

"Yes, I hear all three of you perfectly fine, as a matter of fact." He grinned when Troy barked humorously. _At least someone might be on board_, he thought to himself.

"This isn't funny, Chad, I'm not sneaking out only to get caught and locked up in my room until college."

Chad let his head fall against his headboard and groaned. "What'll it take to convince you?"

The silence on the other end was enough to let the two boys know that she was grinning evilly. "One good reason." She quoted, making Chad grind his teeth at the irony.

"Damn…"

Troy shrugged and popped an Oreo in his mouth from the kitchen cabinet. "Because I'll be there, duh."

"Thank you, man." Chad carelessly tossed an arm in the air in relief.

Gabriella ignored him. She giggled sarcastically once before replying. "Yeah, I'll just go hunt my man."

Chad's eyebrows furrowed when he realized that they probably forgot he was there by now. But the next words that came out of Troy's mouth not only confirmed that he was right, but gave him a very dangerous, genius idea.

"Ooh, a sexy manhunt."

The couple carried on their flirty conversation without a word to Chad as his hands grabbed last week's trig homework and a pencil. He flipped it over and his brain went to work, telling his hands what to scribble down in all but three minutes. The entire paper was filled when he brought it in front of his eyes and grinned like a madman. It was perfect.

"Chad, you there, dude?"

Silence.

"Chad?"

"You think his parents came back?" Gabriella asked him.

"I don't know. Chad, last chance, should I text you?"

Chad didn't snap out of his thoughtful daze, but Troy's hidden threat to hang up on him got through to his brain just fine. He looked around his room at all of the amazing possibilities that could make his plan come to life and make tonight an unforgettable one. He would make sure of that.

"Show up at the park with black hoodies in twenty minutes."

"What?" The couple would've exchanged confused, worried gazes if they were standing right next to each other.

"Chad, what are you talking ab-"

_Click._

They sat in silence for a few seconds trying to think over their friend's sudden insanity the best they could. What was he up to this time? And what did their clothes have to do with anything?

"Well, then."

"What should we do?" Gabriella asked her boyfriend, eyeing the clothes that just came out of the dryer. A midnight sweatshirt lay on top of the heap, like it was taunting her to the dark side. Was she really one to ever say no when there was intense mystery involved?

"I guess we should check our closets and look for our sneakers. Your balcony in five?"

"This is a really bad idea, Troy."

"So was going to dinner the night your little cousin came to visit, but we did it, didn't we? See you in a few, sweetie." _Click._

_

* * *

_

"Tell me why we're here again?"

Sharpay, Ryan, Taylor, Zeke, and Jason stood in a cluster of confusion and impatience in the middle of the development park near Chad's house. Sharpay knew her question was on everyone's minds, especially Gabriella's. Her hand grasped Troy's so hard they both turned a sickly white. Her eyes darted around in the darkness for any sign of her mother (or maybe a hallucination of her, since she was clearly about to drive herself to the point of a brain hemorrhage…)

Troy shrugged and stroked Gabby's hair while holding her close to his chest. "I wish I could tell you guys, but we have to wait until Chad gets here," He eyed everyone's hoodies, blinking at Sharpay and the other guys. "Weren't you all supposed to wear black like us?" He motioned to Gabriella, Taylor, and himself.

Ryan slowly shook his head. "Chad told us to wear white. I was thinking that same thing about you three."

Zeke crossed his arms and looked around again. "What the hell is going on, then?"

Ryan pondered the thought for a second before deciding on something. "Could we be color-coordinated for teams or something? Did one of you guys say something before he started acting weird?"

Troy shrugged. "I don't think so; we were talking about sneaking out and then we were joking around about…"

Gabriella removed her head from Troy's chest for the first time that night to look up at him knowingly, worriedly. She cocked an eyebrow as the obviousness of the situation tapped them on the shoulder and laughed menacingly at them.

"Oh, sweet Jesus, here we go."

The gang in front of them, on the other hand, had no idea what was going on through the little silent conversation that they were having. Sharpay's eyes slit curiously. "You were joking around about—"

"ULTIMATE MANHUNT!"

Everyone jumped when Chad's booming tone made itself known behind them. Troy and Sharpay groaned when they found him beaming, carrying a bulging book bag on his back with a lacrosse stick and plastic basketball bat in both hands. Does that sound even remotely safe or sane to you?

"Chad, what the hell is wrong with you?" Sharpay spat.

He flashed his pearly whites and shrugged, "I'm trying to create a story that we'll laugh about years from now in front of our parents who won't be able to do shit about it."

Taylor gave a huge grin. "Ah, the usual," She wrapped her arms around Chad and buried her face in his shoulder, gripping his afro tightly. "I've missed you."

"Same here. You ready to have the most fun you'll have for years to come?"

"Always."

Gabriella mocked a glare at him. "It better be worth getting my throat slit."

Chad rolled his eyes and threw the bag down on the ground along with the larger objects in his hands. "How many times do I have to tell you, sis: we'll be home in plenty of time to make it look like we never left and our parents won't ever find out about it."

"Until years from now when we're laughing about it." Troy added with a chuckle.

"Yes, of course."

Jason pushed his way through the hoard of teenagers and bright, confused, and somewhat excited teenagers and asked "I know I shouldn't be surprised that you have a baseball bat and lacrosse stick with you, but _why_ is a whole other story. What do they have to do with Manhunt?"

Chad held up a finger to him, insinuating that he was just about to get to that, and bent down to reach in the front pocket of his bag. He revealed his folded trig homework and cleared his throat.

"These various weapons that you witness before you—"

"_Weapons_?"Most of the group exclaimed, some jumping back in shock and some leaning closer for him to confirm that they'd heard him right.

"Since when are there weapons in Manhunt?" Troy spoke for his speechless friends.

Gabriella just simply stared at him with a bit of anger in her hazel gaze. "I'm not killing anyone tonight, Chad. That's—"

"If you say 'that's our parents' job', I'm taking you by the hair and dragging you into a hole where you'll spend the next week soiling yourself," Chad boldly cut her off, looking at the shadowed grass beneath his large feet. He was obviously so fed up with Gabriella's worries about getting caught that he forgot Troy was standing right next to her, his cerulean eyes widening and zeroing in on his best friend.

"Excuse me," he glowered, "if anything's getting dragged into a hole, it's my foot up your ass the very next time you get snippy with my girlfriend. Don't forget who bailed you out of that fight with the Harley rider last summer, _pal_. I can quite easily take his place."

"I don't doubt that for a second. I can see you having that pot-belly, homeless thing going for you."

"You wanna go?" Gabriella was long since forgotten by the two boys who seemed to be quickly filling up with testosterone and egotistical immaturity. Again. Troy sort of roughly pushed her behind him and got into his much-abused fighting stance: crouching forward with his fists curled and teeth bearing.

Chad didn't seem to be doing too much better at trying to stop it. "Oh, I'm already there, baby! Let's dance, pretty boy!"

"Faggot!"

"Cracker!"

"GIRLS!"

Their layered glares didn't let up as Gabriella stepped in between them for the second time that night. Anyone could see that they were joking if they took the time to look beneath the mock anger, that they would never actually cause any real damage to the other. Still, that didn't mean that they couldn't tease their male-dominant hormones every once in a while.

"This is getting _so_ old," Gabriella, however, didn't seem to think it was as funny or normal. Or did she think it _had_ become normal, and that didn't sit well with her? "I'm surprised you two can fully function correctly without having to make a daily call to the asylum!"

Troy took a moment to notice how the moonlight was shining off of his girlfriend's raven curls, emphasizing the passionate gleam in her eyes. Who cares if it was an angry gleam? She cared about him enough to let him know when he was making an immature ass out of himself. He noticed the pale smoothness of her palm facing him versus the perfectly tan shading of her face. She wasn't one to use up most of her time hiding her obvious, natural beauty with makeup that was a classic topic of envious gossip at school.

And, damn, when she rocked that little black bikini at Sharpay's country club in the summer…

"Sorry, Gabs." Chad mumbled, taking his eyes off of Troy for the first time.

"Troy?" she said expectantly.

"Dead men probably hit themselves for dying so early…"

"What?"

"I mean I'm so sorry, it won't ever happen again," Gabriella kept her softening eyes on him while she slowly dropped her arms.

Sharpay huffed, obviously becoming impatient and suspense-ridden. But she wasn't bored. There was never a dull moment with the un-biological brothers around to do the dirty, embarrassing work for them. "The _rules_, Chad?"

"Ah, back to before I was so _rudely_ interrupted," Chad held his mock glare while Troy returned it with a sarcastic, curt hiss. "Let's get back to it, shall we?"

"Whatever."

Chad ignored her sarcasm and reached back down for his book bag and discarded 'weapons'. Everyone took a tiny step back when he quickly pulled himself upright, the sticks jutting out from his arms at an unnaturally lengthy point. "These rules can get a little complicated, so you guys need to stick with me, okay? Ask questions."

He continued after everyone's consent.

"Alright, we've got two teams, thus the black and white hoodies. Each captain chooses a hideout for their team and retreat there for a few minutes where they get some game play ideas. Everyone on the team pairs up and the captain chooses a small patch of land for a pair to conquer and look out for the enemy team. Once they're done planning, captains are to call each other to let them know that they're ready to disperse. The white team is the first round enemy, so if the black team sees them, they use any mean's necessary to try and capture them. This includes trying to pull their hoods down to reveal their faces using moderate violence to get them down long enough to call their names out. That's where the weapons come in,"

Everyone gulped when he held the lacrosse stick and baseball bat to furthermore his point.

"Does everyone have their phones and are they fully charged?"

Most nodded while Troy and Sharpay dug around in their pockets to make sure. After waiting a few seconds they both nodded and replaced them into their jeans.

"Good. While the white team is leading you back to their hideout, you're allowed to send a distress text to someone from your team to ask for a rescue. You can give clues to hint to them where the hideout is, but once you get there your phone is confiscated and hidden somewhere nearby. If your team member finds you and the hideout, they have to find your phone before you both can get the hell out of there. This goes on for half an hour and if there's no winner, the captains call each other again to declare a homicide war,"

"A what?" Gabriella and Sharpay questioned while the guys allowed large grins of masculine aggression to accelerate on their handsome faces.

"A homicide war. We'll meet back here with our weapons and take each other down by, again, whatever means necessary. The team to get their enemies all down is the winner of that round. Sound good?"

The gang looked around at each other for shared reassurance that this wasn't completely insane. Some shrugged; some lolled their heads from side to side with pursed lips as if outweighing the pros and cons of running around the park like idiots, considering the rules. Eventually everyone nodded, even Gabriella who loosened her grip on Troy's hand and relaxed her fear-ridden frame when she realized that they'd be hiding throughout most of the game.

"How many rounds are we talking here?" Ryan spoke up.

"We're shooting for four," Chad answered, checking his watch, "probably three if we don't get started soon. The three of us need to get home by ten, so we've got two hours." His eyes slid to Gabriella as if saying _that's right, I remembered_.

"Great. Volunteers for first-round captains?"

Everyone's eyes were on Chad for the black team captain, but the little nagging voice in the back of their heads told them who would be head of the whites. Her voice pierced the air before anyone could predict it.

"Me!" Sharpay threw her arm in the air and bounced on her feet.

"Of course," Ryan rolled his eyes, "anyone object with Chad and Shar being the captains?"

Chad knew the rules and Sharpay was Sharpay. No one was willing to admit to being stupid enough to argue with her, so silence fell over them as the two smiled.

"Perfect. So we're ready?"

"Wait," Chad shoved his bag off of his back and unzipped it before flipping it upside down and spewing its contents on the soft grass. Everyone's eyes widened when they landed on the objects that Chad had conjured up in as little as ten minutes.

"What are we supposed to do with a bumper sticker, Chad?" Sharpay's voice was thick with disbelief and accusation, the words _you're stupid as hell_ shooting like a gun between the lines of her actual words.

"You'd be surprised. Remember my first skateboarding attempt when I crashed because I ran into the loose flag on Troy's patio? I was hanging by my ankles in a tree, hovering above his backyard pond and still couldn't get the damn thing off of my head."

Most of them laughed so hard they ended up in tears on the ground, but left Taylor standing with her face in her hands in shame. _This is my other half_, she thought to herself, _the one I thought I was getting some sense out of_…

Troy was the first to somewhat compose himself enough to speak. "My mom's still trying to get the blood off of that flag. She was pissed for months."

"Right. Which is why I'm never skateboarding again."

"Chicken," Gabriella cooed while wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. Her thin mascara created a faint, grey sweep on the outside corners of her gorgeous eyes.

"Bullshit, I'm doing this for all of you! What if you want to borrow one of Taylor's shirts for an oh-so-romantic date with Troy, but you can't because it's drenched in blood from me tripping over someone's dropped tampon or something!"

"Wow, you _would_ trip over a tampon, Chad. Just like you'd trip over your umbilical cord because your mommy didn't clip it off when you were born yesterday!"

Chad was silent for a second, the annoyance melting out of his eyes and ending in his hand, raising his pointing finger up at the grinning teen in front of her. "I've disregarded countless quirks from you tonight, Gabriella, mostly for Troy's sake so that he doesn't shove his fist down my throat so far it pushes his foot out of my ass,"

He was so into his rant that he didn't notice the disgusted scowls from the surrounding crowd. Troy just nodded to himself in agreement.

"But," Chad continued, his voice quivering, "if you _ever_ insult the woman who brought me into this world and turned me into the prepared, respectful fuck I am today, I will not hesitate to make your ignorant, infuriating existence on this world a part of the forgotten past, get it? I will have to end you, and Troy?" He cut himself off when his peripheral vision allowed him to view Troy's darkening eyes and stiffening body prepare to lunge at him, "save it for the game. We only have an hour and forty-five minutes now. Keep an eye on your girl; I might have to pay someone to take her down."

"So help me, God, I hope you do. I'm just _waiting_ for an excuse to hang you with your own intestines…" Troy's fiery rage was easily backed up with Gabriella's matching glower.

"Good. May the smartest asshole win." Chad let his gaze drift to the game-sake enemies, who were quivering in theirs shoes with giggles. Sharpay smirked and grabbed Ryan's elbow, dragging him off into the night with the rest of her team following suit.

"I'm looking forward to it…"

* * *

**Continue it? I have the entire story planned out and really like it, so I need to know what you guys think :]**

**REVIEW! Thnx :]**

**~Rachel :]**

**P.S: One more thing: does ANYONE love Zac's new Charlie St. Cloud trailer as much as I do? I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THAT EFFING MOVIE!**

**And if you haven't seen it or even heard about it, YOUTUBE IT RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND! (after you review, of course :D)**

**The CSC countdown has begun...**


	2. The Game

**Thanks for the feedback from the first chapter, guys, I'm glad you all like it :]**

**So here's chapter 2/3. I just wanna say that I think it turned out better than I hoped it would. I got this idea in the first place because I had a ManHunt party for my birthday last week (only it was twenty people, not eight :P) It was fun, I hope this gives that awesome night justice.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – The Game**

"I think there's a stinkbug in my pants…"

Taylor rolled her eyes and sighed, lowering her "weapon" down to her hips. Her hands instinctively shook the empty trash bag as she said "This was your idea, remember? You might have wanted to bring some bug spray if you're really scared of bugs."

"I think Jason has it."

Taylor did her best to ignore Chad's literal comment in response to her sarcasm and checked her phone. The white team had been hunting them for ten minutes now and so far, nothing was happening. Troy and Gabriella hadn't been in contact other than a short text from Gabby to Taylor asking if she had any Midol with her.

Chad had taken the best approach and chosen the easiest hideout to access: his backyard, a half a mile away from the base clearing where everyone met up. It had plenty of places to hide a phone while also being close by—with an open window—for him to escape and return when the time came an hour and a half later. Beat that, Sharpay, he thought.

"Tay," She heard him speak up, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what's on your mind, sweetie?"

Chad lowered his baseball bat and pulled his hood off of his hair, which was tied back for obvious convenience. He grinned, his pearly whites gleaming under the navy moonlight. "Why are you always first in line to do this with me all the time?"

Taylor's eyebrows raised, expressing her confusion. "First in line for what?"

Chad used the bat to carefully motion around them, at the old trees hovering above them, the rosebushes at the base of the mossy trunks, and the silence all around them, the last noise that they were ever used to on a Friday summer night. It was calm, it was still. It was beautiful.

"All of this," Chad continued, still smiling but now leaning against the bat like a rich man with a cane. "These stupid, spontaneous, reckless stunts that usually end up with us too screwed up to even explain our way out of it. You're always the last person to make a decision because you think it out so well and consider every detail. But when it comes to my games, you're always the first to say yes. Why don't you ever yell at me for being stupid?"

Taylor slid her phone back into her pocket and just stared at him for a few slow minutes. He seemed patient, like he knew to follow his own speech and wait for her to balance out all of the options because only then could he get his best, final answer.

"We're teenagers," she finally replied, a slight grin forming on her plump lips, "I have the confidence to know that I can get us out of most of the situations that we get into, and I guess that if you care enough about someone, you'll do anything to make them happy. Why do you think everyone came tonight?"

"For the hell of it?" Chad smiled, stepping forward and reaching for her waist.

"Other than that. We trust you enough to give us as much as we can handle—with a little more ridiculous on the side—but half the time, we get away with it unscathed."

Chad's smile now was completely altered; the sarcasm was long since forgotten and all trace of teasing was wiped from his eyes. He met Taylor's gaze with no difficulty and kept it there, making her blush and grin happily.

"Thank you, Taylor," he whispered in disbelief, "That's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me."

Taylor gripped his head in her hands and locked his eyes on hers again, now serious. "Don't ever let anyone tell you different, Chad Danforth. You're amazing, funny, and smart, no matter what your grades reflect."

The pull of their eyes migrated down to their lips, making Chad lean in closer, closer…

_MESSAGE! MESSAGE! YOU'VE GOT A MESSAGE!_

Chad growled under his breath and snatched his screaming phone from his pocket. Too furious to realize that he forgot to put his phone on vibrate, he flipped it open to read the new message from Troy.

"_Got a lock on them. Meet at the bridge creek in the next 30 seconds."_

Chad sighed, looking back up at Taylor. She seemed slightly amused at his anger and raised an eyebrow, silently asking a question.

"Troy and Gabby have a lead on somebody. We should probably get going."

Taylor nodded and just as Chad turned his back to start off, she hooked onto his should, swiveled herself around his body, and put his lips out of their misery with a chaste kiss. His arm instinctively slithered its way around the small of her back, pulling her body closer to his to deepen the kiss as she was doing with wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Like I said," she sighed when they finally pulled away, "Don't let anyone tell you any different. You're perfectly fine."

"I love you, Tay."

Taylor smiled back, stroking his cheek. "Love you, too, Chad."

* * *

"Did they say where they were?"

Chad shrugged, moving a thin branch with significantly fatter leaves attached out of his eyes. It only snapped back a second later and lost itself in his hair. "Nope, you can't get more specific than saying you're at the bridge. You think they went after them?"

"Possibly. Two minutes is a long time in these instances. I'm texting Gabby."

After snapping the twig in half and being left with a few leaves in his hair, Chad looked at the small, rickety bridge connecting the two sides of land on either side of the tiny creek. Only God knew how long it's been sitting there aiding people who lost a baseball or soccer ball while playing here. It was an unofficial landmark of the park that really deserved its own sign.

Chad chuckled to himself at how ridiculous this all sounded to him. When he let himself really think about it, he admitted that the bridge was nothing more than an old tree truck that fell over in a huge thunderstorm many years ago. When Troy and Chad, probably around seven years old, walked to the park the next day and lost their basketball, Chad begged Jack to help them straddle it over the creek to help them retrieve it. After safely returning and playing a few games of tree basketball (invented by Troy, who noticed a branch in the shape of a hoop on a tree), they wondered off to the creek and crawled onto the trunk, just sitting there for endless hours talking about anything and everything. No one ever removed the tree, probably because it could pass as just a thicker twig in the creek, nothing to worry about.

"Oh, my God! What the hell are you doing?"

Taylor's voice snapped him out of his sweet memories from simpler times and he was now at full attention, watching Taylor gape at a spot behind a bush. Chad followed in her footsteps, curious to see what kind of annoyance had suddenly consumed her.

"What that f—"

Chad's eyes nearly popped out of his sockets, much like Troy and Gabriella's had before they sat up and straightened out their clothes, which were only half on. Troy zipped up his hoodie to cover the t-shirt pushed up to his collar bone while Gabriella fixed her hair to cover a large, dark hickey leading from her earlobe to her throat. They kept their eyes down the entire time, not even looking at each other.

"Gabby, are you serious?" Taylor scolded, waving her trash bag around like it was a paddle. "We rush over here just to see you guys dry-humping?"

Gabriella's voice was just a tiny squeak. "Sorry…"

Chad rolled his eyes and lightly banged the baseball bat against his forehead. "So I guess this means that you lost track of the whites? What are we supposed to do now?"

"You suck my cock, bitch!"

"Wh—?"

Chad didn't get the chance to finish his sentence before a black scarf was ambushed over his eyes and his legs were kicked out from under him. Before he knew what was happening, he was on the ground with his wrists being yanked behind his back and tied together with cheap handcuffs.

"I don't remember packing these, cheaters!" He protested, kicking his legs around in a blind attempt at revealing who the hell had him captive.

"Ha," the voice was high and piercing, not allowing him a direct shot at pointing out who had him down. "Prove it, Chad Danforth! Douche…"

"GUYS! RUN!"

Chad winced when he heard the screams and protests surrounding him. Troy and Gabriella didn't seem to get very far before their enemies got a hold of them, pushing them into trees and bushes and using their weapons to yank down their hoods. He didn't hear anything from Taylor and assumed that she was still being chased by someone slower than her. Thank God for middle school track and field…

"Come on! Say her name out loud!" The person behind Chad demanded, "God, do I have to do everything myself?"

"Gabriella Montez!"

"Troy Bolton!"

Silence.

"Where is he?"

"I think," a voice that Chad recognized as Ryan started. Big mistake, apparently.

"STUPID! YOUR VOICE!"

A momentary pause. "Sorry," his voice was higher now, almost as high as whoever was behind Chad. He was beginning to get a pretty good idea of who that was, by the way. "I think he's still chasing Taylor. They might be in the clearing by now, she's pretty fast."

"Then go after her next," he/she declared, snatching Chad up off the ground and securing his wrists in their hands. "We've got these three covered. Go!"

"Gotcha, captain."

"Oh, my God, dumbass, just shut up and go!"

Chad rolled his eyes behind the blindfold. "Wow…"

"You're tellin' me," they mumbled behind him.

"Glad we don't have him."

A few seconds passed before long, sharp nails dug their way deeper into his skin. "Oh, and by the way, Chad," Sharpay's voice was suddenly in his ear, seething in her normal voice. "That was a pretty good takedown for a lazy _stick_, huh?"

Chad cocked a grin, letting his feet guide him as his biggest sense of security, not trusting her for one second to dodge a tree when they came across one. "Touché, Evans, touché. And just for the record," He laughed again when he remembered her introduction a few minutes ago, "I always knew you had one."

* * *

Troy sighed again, exasperated. "Come on, Chad, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"

Silence.

"Chad!"

Chad narrowed his eyes, doing his best to turn his body around even more to avoid Troy's questions a little better. He winced when his skin dug into the handcuffs more than they already have. Needing something else to glare at, he looked up to the mirrored ceiling, tearing the desk behind him to pieces.

"Seriously, curly-q," Gabriella spoke up from another corner in the room, "I saw the flush in Taylor's face when you two showed up. You were making out, too."

"Her face was red because we were running after _you two_!" Chad finally cracked, snapping his neck around to glower at the separated couple. Sharpay's first-floor room had so many corners and rooms attached it was like a freaking maze. The blonde had attached another pair of handcuffs to the chain of the one Chad was already sporting and snapped the other circle around a leg on her office desk. Gabriella was cuffed around a bedpost on the other side of the room and Troy was stuck with his hands above him, locked around a branch of her ceiling lamp, the furthest away from Chad and a few yards from his girlfriend. Where Sharpay came up with all of these handcuffs was beyond any of them and they felt it too awkward and uncomfortable to ever ask, afraid of the answer.

"This isn't our fault, Chad!" Gabriella raised her voice, her cuffs clicking against metal post in her frustration. "They must have seen us coming after them and even if we weren't distracted, they would've found a way to duck out of our sight and loop around behind us! If anything, you were the loudest and practically _told_ them where we were! We were on the ground, nice and invisible, and then along comes Captain Bigmouth and gives us away! God, Chad, you always do that!"

"It's because I'm black, isn't it?"

"I'm gonna kill you when we get out of here, Chad."

Troy huffed and rolled his eyes, halfway at his annoyance towards his best friend and he needed something to distract the numb prickling in his sleeping arms. "Believe me, dude, you're guilty for so much more that doesn't even fit into the black stereotype."

"Oh, please, like wha—you know what?" Chad stopped himself and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. The quiet atmosphere, void of Chad's voice for once, was more than enough to make Gabriella calm down as well. "I don't even want to know. All that matters is that we're stuck here, I texted Taylor ten minutes ago, and she hasn't replied to say that she's on her way."

"They took our phones," Gabriella flatly reminded him, "She might've said something and you just don't know it yet."

"I would've heard it vibrate, smarty-pants."

"Are you insulting my ability to let you in on the obvious of life's lessons, Danforth, because that'll just make you dumber in the long run?"

"You wanna go?"

"Right here, right now! Say hi to Michael Jackson for me!"

Chad stopped getting up halfway into it and froze. The agitation fell from his face in a short second. "Still too early, Gabs, still too early."

"My bad…"

"Are you two done, or do you want to stay here and threaten each other because God knows you're not going anywhere."

The three heads in the room snapped to the entrance of Sharpay's room and sure enough, there stood Taylor in all her tired glory. A thin sheet of sweat covered her forehead and her cheeks were red and flushed, most likely from excess exercise. Her chest heaved up and down, still gasping for air even though she probably had to stop a few minutes ago to read Chad's text.

"Babe!" Chad's eyes lit up and he shook his hands in excitement, another round of cuff-clattering sounding off through the huge room. "You came for me!"

"Ahem!"

"I mean for us."

Taylor was already at work, scrambling around the room in search of the three tickets that would allow them all out of there and back into the game. She pulled drawers open, looked under sheets and pillows, and behind tables. "Of course I did, sweetie, how could I let you guys rot?"

"Oh no, just leave him," Gabriella glared at Chad again, "Because really, who needs him?"

"I do," Taylor interrupted before Chad had the chance to. He lowered his head in uselessness after her reply.

"Whatever…"

"Ah hah!" Taylor beamed, pulling her hand out from under one of Sharpay's many decorative pillows. Gabriella's new phone glittered in the dim light like it was an actual prize for Taylor's hard work.

"My baby!" Gabriella squealed, clapping her hands together the best she could despite her impairment.

"Hey…" Troy pouted, dropping his shoulders in his mind.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Troy," She reached into the pink trash can beside one of Sharpay's bedside tables and retrieved Troy's cell. His eyebrows pulled together in disbelief and his mouth dropped to the floor in which he was practically hanging above.

"What the hell? That's a $400 phone!"

Taylor's eyes widened. "You should've waited for your change."

"Tay, sweetie," Chad was smiling, but the impatience was prominent in his tone and behind his clenched teeth. "Mine?"

"Oh, right."

After a few more minutes of searching, Taylor moved to the bathroom. Sharpay was the angriest at Chad, so naturally his phone was going to be the hardest to find. She wasn't going to let him get away that easily, especially when she had the chance to go back and catch him in the act of trying to escape.

As Taylor crouched down to look under the trash can beside Shar's toilet, a loop on her jeans caught onto the broken handle on one of the drawers. When Taylor tried to rise, she pulled the drawer with her.

"Crap," she muttered, trying in vain to untangle herself quickly. When she finally had it and went to shut it, she stopped herself when she saw a sudden gleam reflect off of the bottom of the drawer. Taylor smiled triumphantly and reached for Chad's phone, but stopped again to laugh when she realized what this specific drawer was for.

"Taylor!" Chad called from the bedroom. "Any luck?"

Taylor wiped her damp eyes and took a few quick breaths to stabilize herself before shakily replying "Uh huh, be right out."

And quickly, before she had the chance to giggle anymore, Taylor shot her hand into the box of tampons and retrieved Chad's Solstice.

When she came out and handed him his phone, he asked "Thanks, babe, where was it?"

"In a drawer."

"Which one?"

"Chad, does it really matter? Let's just get out of here."

Chad's eyes slightly widened. "You're scaring me. What, was it, like, a period drawer or something?"

He laughed at his randomness, of course Sharpay wouldn't do that to him, no matter how mad she was. She was too sensitive about her personal body business, barely talking about it to Gabriella and Taylor.

But when Taylor didn't reply or even look at him, they became nervous chuckles for a second before full out panic.

"_WHAT_?"

Chad leaped up from the ground, not even letting Troy finish taking the cuffs off of his wrists. He bolted into the bathroom and tore open every drawer until he came to the most recently opened one, stopping in horror.

"Holy shit…"

"Chad, now don't—"

"That little…" Chad whipped out his phone to make the call, but the sweat lingering from his nervousness was still present, resulting in the tumbling of his cell, again, into the tampon box.

Chad froze.

"Hey!"

The next few seconds were filled with complete chaos. Gabriella screamed bloody murder, Troy grabbed her hand and dashed out of the room too quickly for anyone else to notice, and Taylor grabbed a bottle of Sharpay's perfume off of her vanity and sprayed Ryan's face before he could stop her.

"Ahh!"

Taylor ignored him and turned back to Chad. "Chad, come on! We have to go!"

Chad was still trembling from the loss of his phone, but his brain was getting back to work. He sealed his eyes tightly and took in everything: the lights beating down on his face, Ryan's painful screams, Taylor's next spray of perfume in his face, and her shrieks directed at him.

"Chad, snap out of it, dammit!"

It took less than a second for him to decide what he had to do.

Chad groaned and, keeping his eyes shut, plunged his hand into the drawer, grabbed the box, and ran out.

While Taylor shot out of the room like a bullet, he shoved Ryan onto the bed and tossed a few pillows on top of him before tearing out of the bedroom like his teammates before him.

When all four of them were safely back in the game, hiding behind a huge oak about a few minutes away from Sharpay's room, Chad proceeded to use only his pointer finger and thumb to reach into his hoodie pocket, poke around for a few seconds, and pull his phone out of the box. He looked at Taylor with disgust evident in his features, holding it out to her.

"Oh, for God's sake," she sighed, taking the cell and wiping it off on her sweatshirt. "It's not like they're used."

She gave it back to him and not even two seconds later, Chad was in motion. He looked around for a moment, then had the phone in use, dialing a number.

"What are you doing, Chad?" Troy queried, tightening his hand around Gabriella's. She was still in shock over the sudden discovery and could faintly hear Ryan moaning and groaning a few yards away. She flinched closer to Troy.

Chad's jaw was locked, his nostrils flaring, as he held the phone up to his ear, his hand shaking. After a few rings and an answer on the other line, his voice was almost a whisper, angry, and very dangerous.

"Diamond in five minutes, stick. This is war."

* * *

**So? One more chapter to go, guys. I think you'll really like the ending, it's pretty hysterical ;]**

**REVIEW! Thnx :]**

**~Rachel :]**

**P.S: I made a banner for this story, in my profile under Ultimate Manhunt :]**


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